The Arts

‘Emma -A Musical Romantic Comedy’ Too much fun to pass up

By Carol Davis SAN DIEGO—Regardless of what Emma Woodhouse does in the business of matchmaking, the fact that Patti Murin inhabits her body, makes the new Jane Austen’s “Emma A Musical Romantic Comedy” with lyrics and book by Paul Gordon (Jane Eyre) and directed and choreographed by Jeff Calhoun (“Bonnie and Clyde at the La

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Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Male bonding subject of ‘The Story of My Life’

By Carol Davis SAN DIEGO—San Diego Musical Theatre is in its second year of producing musicals (may be the answer to Starlight without the outside stars) and, for its second show of the season, producers Erin and Gary Lewis have chosen the San Diego premiere of Neil Bartrum (Music and Lyrics) and Brian Hill’s (Book)

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Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Simon’s ‘Barefoot in the Park’ still has a few laughs left

By Carol Davis VISTA –Some vintage wines get better with age. Some say women get better looking as they age. Some say that of men. Some Broadway plays have lasting power and in retrospect, shed more light on a current situation than when it was written. Some fall off by the wayside and when they

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Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

“Waving Goodbye” packs powerful punch at New Village Arts

By Carol Davis CARLSBAD, California — “If only I could change the past…?” How many times have we had this conversation with ourselves? “I would do this or that differently”. “I would say this or that to him or her”. “If I had it to do over again…” In Jamie Pachino’s touching and lyrical new

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Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

‘2 Pianos 4 Hands’ entertains to a point

By Carol Davis SOLANA BEACH, California– Fate: destiny, outcome chance, providence. When Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt were youngsters taking piano lessons, it never occurred to them that one day their paths would cross and they would be forever locked together playing dueling piano’s (if you will) and making a name for themselves, not as

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Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

‘Next To Normal’ hits a nerve touching all families with mental illness

By Carol Davis SAN DIEGO — In light of the recent shootings in Tucson, most Americans are focused on what’s being done to help the mentally ill. For some, it’s business as usual. For some, it’s struggling at home making things ‘almost’ or next to right. For others help is available but with coaxing and

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Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Survivors’ son charts their road to Holocaust recovery

An Italian Renaissance: Choosing Life in Canada by Robert Eli Rubinstein, Urim Publications, Israel, and Lambda Publishers, Brooklyn, 2010, ISBN 978-965-524-044-3, 177 pages including appendices and endnotes. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Perhaps the author and publishers were a bit too clever in titling this family memoir.  Although a portion of the action

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

Candye Kane stars in autobiographical ‘Toughest Girl Alive’

By Carol Davis SAN DIEGO— Candye Kane doesn’t know it but I have a lovely portrait, in oils, of her hanging in my home. Funny thing is, I had never heard her sing until I saw her musical autobiography The Toughest Girl Alive now at Moxie Theatre. It is in a world premiere production and

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Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Blindness, race, sexual orientation all subjects at the San Diego Jewish Film Festival

By Carol Davis SAN DIEGO — The 21st Annual San Diego Jewish Film Festival sponsored by the Leichtag Family Foundation is presenting a number of short but engrossing documentaries, three of which I had the pleasure of screening: Ingelore, Wrong Side of the Bus and He’s My Girl. Ingelore, the shortest of the three running

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Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Look, up into the political atmosphere… It’s Captain Israel!

By Donald H. Harrison   SAN DIEGO – StandWithUs is turning another page in popular Israel advocacy—and it’s in a comic book. The Los Angeles-based group, which sends speakers and sign-bearers to counter Palestinian demonstrations and purchases space on billboards to tell Israel’s message, recently issued the first number in a comic book series to

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories

Turkish action series ‘Valley of the Wolves’ is anti-American, anti-Semitic

By Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel — Amazing. The New York Times has a long piece about how Turkey is becoming an important factor in Iraq. Fair enough. But it includes the following paragraph: “A surprising feature of Turkey’s success is the image it has managed to project in Iraq. On the road from Erbil to

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Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

San Diego Jewish Film Festival preview: ‘Habermann’

By  Joel A Moskowitz M D LA JOLLA — This film is not about the Jewish question alone.   A Czech-German-Austrian production it chronicles the events surrounding the Nazis’ initial forays towards world domination in 1938.  It may well be that those younger than 50 will have little knowledge of the Sudetenland.  An area in the

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast